Worker safety

FedEx executive will be Trump’s new OSHA chief

Scott Mugno got the thumbs up from a Senate Committee in a party-line vote Dec. 13.

OSHA fines Ross Island Bridge paint contractor $189,000 for safety violations that led to near-fatal accident

After an accident that seriously injured two workers in a 37' fall, OSHA levies its biggest fine in more than five years, saying contractor Abhe & Svoboda knowingly put workers at risk.

Union ceremony remembers workers who died on the job

Sixty-six Oregon workers lost their lives to preventable accidents in 2016.

UNSAFE AT WORK

At the ODOT bridge contractor where a 40-foot fall sent two workers to the hospital, at least four former employees say they were let go after complaining of dangerous work conditions.

Six questions for labor’s top workplace safety expert

Peg Seminario, the AFL-CIO’s director of occupational safety and health, is a nationally recognized expert on worker safety.

On-the-job Fatalities in Oregon in 2016

The list of workers killed on the job in Oregon in 2016 — from Oregon-OSHA reports, workers’ comp data, and newspaper accounts.

Long after the flames, firefighters at risk from cancer chemicals

The Fire Fighters union is sounding the alarm about the cancer-causing after-effects of fire.

On-the-job fatalities in Oregon increase

One of last year's on-the-job deaths was a union organizer killed in a car crash.

Abhe & Svoboda fires union salt amid safety complaints

Nonunion paint contractor Abhe & Svoboda faces civil rights, labor and safety complaints on a $22 million Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) painting project underneath the Ross Island Bridge.

UNDER THE ROSS ISLAND BRIDGE: Investigating a low-bid nonunion contractor, a union finds problems aplenty

Under the Ross Island Bridge Feb. 8, a painter plummeted 40 feet and landed on his own son, putting both in the hospital.

Work shouldn’t hurt, says OSEA

Oregon Special Education personnel all too frequently are injured by their students.

Portland Public Schools’ OTHER lead exposure problem

Chips and dust from lead paint are all over the place as Franklin High School undergoes renovation.

Lead crisis in schools: Could underfunding of maintenance be the culprit?

Decades of cuts have made insufficient maintenance the new normal.

Oregon labor honors fallen workers

41 workers died in job-related accidents in Oregon last year.

DEADLY DUST: OSHA’s new silica rule will save lives

The silica rule covering 2 million construction workers is the most significant OSHA move in decades.

Silicosis hits home

The disease can strike anyone exposed, even someone who teaches good safety practices to others.

Workplace deaths rising

Job-related deaths are on the rise in Oregon and throughout the United States.

Over 10,000 severe worker injuries reported in first year of new OSHA requirement

Most of the hazards that led to severe injuries could easily have been prevented.

Governor Brown appoints two labor nominees to workers’ comp committee

Kevin Billman of UFCW and IBEW Local 48 staff attorney Diana Winther are nominees for MLAC.

The Demolition of Workers’ Compensation

All around the country, state legislatures are whittling away at workers’ comp systems